1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to information handling systems, and more particularly, to improved operation of a device in a foreign domain.
2. Background Information
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is an information handling system. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
An interface may be utilized for making hardware and data connections between any combination and number of devices, non-limiting examples of devices include IHS's, and components and peripherals therefor, and any combinations thereof. An interface connector refers to one of the pair of mating connectors that comprises an interface. The pair of connectors is sometimes referred to as a receptacle and plug, or female and male connectors, respectively.
There exists in the IHS industry a number of interface standards for making connections between any combination and number of devices, non-limiting examples of which include IHS's, components and peripherals therefore. As a non-limiting example, there exists the Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) standards and the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) standards. These standards define both the physical interface and the protocol used to communicate over the physical interface. Both standards have evolved over time through the release of new ATA and SCSI specifications, specifically, the Serial ATA (SATA) specification and the Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) specification. As used throughout this disclosure, reference to ATA, SCSI, SATA and SAS is intended to encompass all versions and releases of the associated specifications.
As used herein, a SAS device is a device that complies with the SAS specification and a SATA device is a device that complies with the SATA specification. As an artifact of the current standards, a SAS domain may accommodate both a SAS device and a SATA device.
In a SAS domain, both SAS and SATA disk drives may be connected to a RAID controller. The IO controller in the RAID controller implements a translation mechanism between ATA and SCSI command so that the RAID controller can interact with the SATA drive using SCSI commands. After SAS discovery, the RAID controller may send initialization commands to discover the properties of devices that are in the SAS domain. During drive spin up, a SAS drive will respond to commands, and may provide the RAID controller with status information. In contrast, during spin up, a SATA drive will not respond to any commands until spin up is completed.
For a SATA drive connected to a RAID controller through a SAS expander, this lack of response from the SATA drive may result in the RAID controller completing the initialization process and failing to discover the SATA drive. This may result in a failed or degraded virtual disk configured on the RAID controller.
For a SATA drive directly connected to the RAID controller, this lack of response from the SATA drive may cause delays in the boot process. The I/O controller (“IOC”) must pause its discovery process during the boot process in order to wait for the SATA drive to spin up.